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Stuck (2008)


Weekend Box Office Director: Stuart Gordon
Cast: Stephen Rea, Mena Suvari
Country: USA/UK/Canada 2007
Year: 2008
Score: ***
MPAA Rating:

The film STUCK begins with the title inspired by a true event.  This event in question is a hit and run that took place in Texas, 2001.  A woman, believed drunk, struck a homeless man with her car and had him lodged in the windshield.  She locked the car in her garage and left him to die.  She was later convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison. 

The circumstances in STUCK are pretty much identical.  Brandi (Mena Suvari), after a night of heavy partying with drugs and alcohol, hits Tom (Stephen Rea) an out-of-luck guy who has lost his job and home as a result of company downsizing. 

Though the premise sounds cheesy, director Stuart Gordon (a horror film director, RE-ANIMATOR, DOLLS) has done quite a good job with his story.  He dwells initially on two main protagonists Brandi and Tom though concentrating on Brandi, the more interesting one.  She is shown as a caring old aged home worker with a heart who does not mind cleaning the s*** out for those under her care.  Circumstances, like an unreasonable hovering supervisor, Petersen (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon), an upcoming and a drug dealer lover (Russell Hornsby) promotion gradually brings out the worst in her.  Director Gordon shows her eventual compromise of principles leading to her decline into hell.  His use of metaphors (her ‘stuck’ victim and others) is subtle.  But the ending of the face off between Brandi and Tom is a bit of a let down in that the film sinks into clichéd horror territory.

The execution of the car accident is shot impressively.  The actors complement each other well, especially newcomer Hornsby as the conscienceless druggy.  The segment in which Brandi catches him in bed with another girl is pricelessly cheesy.

STUCK is a B movie done well that will surely stick (had to use this word….) in the minds of audiences for quite a while.


Review by: Gilbert Seah

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